Weird thoughts from a techie brain...

August 2017

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About

This site is an effort to share some of the base knowledge I have gathered through all this years working with Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Python or Zope, among others. So, take a look around and I hope you will find the contents useful.

New brevet ride: The 300

The moment I decided that I was going to attempt doing a 200 brevet
I thought it was going to be something hard to accomplish, really hard. I even
had serious doubts that I was going to make it.

But I did, and I felt so incredibly well, both during the brevet and afterwards,
that when the 300 was announced I said to myself - "Why not?". Suddendly,
the idea of attempting the 300 hundred got sticked to my mind and I wanted to
do it. I checked the route several times, it was tough (look at the
elevation gain) but it was a damned lovely one! I already knew some of those
roads, and I was quite sure it was going to be an amazing ride.

So, I talked about the idea at home, with dolo, and she encouraged me to do
it - "I think it is a good idea but, do you think you are ready for something
like that?" - Her words just clicked me, I was going to do it - "Sure I
am!" - I replied, and I was damn sure I was going to make it.

The next few weeks I did stick to my usual riding plans, I did nothing special
in preparation for the 300. I did read a bit more about longer brevets though,
and I got some stuff I would need for it (better front light, new frame bag,
powerbank, tools bottle...).

Deciding how to pack everything I would need was one of the most challenging
parts of it. I did a first test ride to test the front lights, riding at the
same hour in the night that I expected to be back by the end of the brevet
(and kept riding for some time in the dark, as I had zero experience there).
Then I did a couple of different bikepacking setups on the Jake, trying
to find a way to setup all the bags in a comfortable way, but both tests
were a complete failure. Either I had problems with the bags rubbing my legs
or I found the setup not comfortable in some other ways.

Finally, Álvaro (whom I met in the 200 brevet) shared some pics of his setup
and I did spot there a nice-and-slim frame bag from decathlon, which I bought
and fit just perfect with my setup, which was basically that frame bag, a
medium-size saddlebag and a large tools bottle where I stuffed all the food and
tools I'd need. I trusted the weather forecast, so I decided not to take any
really warm clothes with me (which helped reducing the amount of bulky stuff).
I also decided to bring only one water bottle, trusting it would be enough to
refill that one during the stops at the control points.

The bike was ready, I had all the things I'd need for it and I was
definetely ready for it

My first brevet

Last saturday I did ride my first Brevet, a 200km brevet organized by the
CCRiazor from A Coruña. Doing something like that has been in my personal
todo list since I started cycling (or, at least, since I started cycling
a bit more seriously). I guess having Super Randonneur (George Tellalov)
and the Randonneur of the cyclades (Sascha Welter) as friends helped a
bit with that desire.

I've to say that I totally fell in love with the whole Brevet thing.
The spirit, the people, the smooth ride (I was really really lucky about the
weather)... everything was just perfect. For sure one of the best experiences
I've had in my life.

Cyberpunk cycling

A couple of days ago I went on a ride in the morning. One of the usual routes
I do around Lugo, first going southeast towards the mountains, then turning
west, then northeast back to Lugo. Around 58 kms on both main/bigger roads and
small and lovely secondary roads.

Something I do quite often this days, but this time something was different.

This time I had fun x 10. I felt so good, it was so much fun, I couldn't
stop smiling. I even laughed out loud some times. It was like having an extra
boost of adrenaline. It was real good fun there and, at one moment, I thought
that I'd love Dolo to be there with me, having exactly that same sensation,
feeling the joy and the fun.

"That won't happen any time soon" - I thought. I know, I know, not everybody
likes the same things, same sports... but I thought it would be really nice to
be able to share that with her.

And then an idea came to mind, like a lighting strike: SimStim!.

For those of you who hadn't read (yet) Neuromancer (seriously, go read it!),
a SimStim allows one of the characters on the novel (Case) to be able to
connect to another character (Molly) and live her experiences as his
own, seeing what she sees, feeling what she feels (pain, joy, surprise, etc).

That'd be just perfect for sharing all the joy I had the other day while riding
my bike. And, who knows, the future is just there, around the corner...

Sentry email notifications not arriving?

I've been using Sentry for quite some time now in some projects, mostly all
of them running python based applications and systems, and recently I did a
major upgrade of a Sentry server to the latest version (8.3.1). It was an
update with lots of changes, both in the Sentry internals and the dependencies
needed by it (like the addition of Redis) but everything went more or less
smoothly.

Once I had the server ready, I did upgrade the Raven client accordingly and
I modified something in our staging server so an exception (IOError
actually) was raised and the proper notification was sent to the Sentry server.

It worked just fine, the error message was sent to the server and it appeared
on the Sentry web interface. Just perfect... or not?

Not really. After the error arrived in the Sentry server, a notification should
have been sent to a mailing list where developers/support would see it and act
accordingly. But that email never arrived and there was no error on the Sentry
server logs.

Store python PersistentMapping objects into an objects TreeSet

I've been working with ZODB for quite some time now. First when I was doing
Zope based web development (oh, the ol' good^hard days), then in some
courses I gave about persistence and data storage in python, nowadays working
with pyramid and still using ZODB for some apps.

Some days ago, working on one of those pyramid based projects, I found
something really weird, something that was not working as expected, and it
took me some time to figure out what was it. I'd like to share it, just in case
it happens to any of you.

The Flower Power Sprint

Exactly one month ago I had a long traveling day with r0sk. We left Lugo in
the middle of the night and we got in a plane in A Coruña while it was still
dark outside.

After a one-hour-and-something flight we arrived in Barcelona, where we got in
another plane, this time the destination was Athens, Greece. We were on our way
to one of our regular International Pizzasprints, when all the people
working on the same project meet to work hand by hand for a few days (and then
have lots of fun, of course).

The 100

The alarm should ring at 07:00 (EEST), but I wake up way before
that. I'm too excited to stay in bed, so I get out of the room as stealthy as
I can, trying not to bother Oscar, sleeping in the other bed.

I left the clothes ready the day before, in the living room, so there is where
I go after preparing breakfast (coffee, milk, bread and cheese).

I take it easy, eating slowly. It is always really hard to have breakfast so
early, but today I manage quite well and I eat it all up. The bike is ready
already, I put my cycling clothes on and I double check again that I have
everything with me (Phone, Garmin, HR Sensor, GoPro, spare tube, tools...).
Then I pick up Sascha's Jake to get outside.

Today we have planned to go on a longer ride together, Sascha and me. We will
do the Apollonas round (clockwise), a route that covers something like 100
kms around the island of Naxos. We will pass by beaches, villages, valleys
and mountains.